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What can business owners learn from politicos?
April 23rd, 2012
He’s known for his political polling, but did you know that John Nienstedt has also done work for Ikea, Shea Homes, Cox Communications and other commercial clients?
Marketing pros can learn a lot from the tactics used in political campaigns, said Nienstedt, citing Sergio Zyman’s book “The End of Marketing as We Know It.”
Tebow-Mania moving east? Manning to Broncos, trade talk goes wild
March 19th, 2012
It was just 71 days ago that quarterback Tim Tebow led the Broncos to a improbable playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, stunning and delighting fans across the country.
Now, it seems Tebow is on his way out of Denver, due to the announced signing of former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning to a multi-year deal.
Can Super Bowl sink a city’s image?
February 10th, 2012
As a record 111.3 million Americans watched the Super Bowl on TV last Sunday, San Diego pollster John Nienstedt crunched something other than chips. He crunched numbers.
The president of Competitive Edge Research & Communication tallied all the televised images of Indianapolis and all the times announcer Al Michaels mentioned the host city. He counted eight and seven, respectively, then he calculated a third number: Zero.
National spotlight puts Indy’s image on the line
February 4th, 2012
Indianapolis’ national image will be burnished or tarnished today. And it will depend largely on things out of the long, studied reach of local Super Bowl organizers and city promotional types.
City leaders determined to use global spotlight to build cachet
January 28th, 2012
“In 2003, John Madden went on and on about how wonderful San Diego was when they hosted the Super Bowl and their image got a nice boost,” said Nienstedt, whose company for the last decade has studied the impact of the Super Bowl on its host city. “In 2009, the network showed some really nice night shots and entertainment in Tampa and that city got a nice boost.”
Are San Diegans disengaged?
November 16th, 2011
Before entering the Bankers Hill lair of San Diego pollster John Nienstedt, visitors will notice a sheet of paper taped to his office door bearing a red-lettered quote from Oscar Wilde: “‘Public opinion’ is an attempt to organize the ignorance of the community, and to elevate it to the dignity of physical force.”
Citizen Engagement: Defining Metrics and Ranking San Diego
November 15th, 2011
Our very own John Nienstedt sits down with Digital Politics Radio and discusses defining and measuring civic engagement, latest rankings of top cities and reasons behind lack of engagement with insights about San Diego. Also does civic engagement lead to voting, role of polling and future trends?
San Diego, we have an engagement problem
November 6th, 2011
Voters approved the building of Petco Park in 1998, but it didn’t open until 2004. City employee pension plans have been underfunded. An airport with a single runway serves 3 million residents, despite numerous studies decrying its inadequacy. These three civic situations indicate regionwide dysfunction.
San Diego considers an openly gay GOP mayor
October 8th, 2011
Two leading Republican contenders for mayor of America’s eighth-largest city are openly gay, and voters have barely noticed. It doesn’t come up at campaign appearances or in local news coverage.
District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and City Councilman Carl DeMaio haven’t made their marks as gay rights activists, which may help explain why their sexual orientation has been a non-issue even among social conservatives. Neither makes a secret of being gay, but they don’t draw attention to it, either.
Blackout a wake-up call to prepare for disasters
September 24th, 2011
When the lights went out all over the county this month — and for the first couple of hours, San Diego Gas & Electric said it didn’t know why or for how long the power would be off — some people found themselves a bit panicked and more than a bit unprepared.
Flashlights? Water? Food? A radio not tethered to a plug? A phone that was tethered to the wall?
